Nah, I doubt it. Guitarists have been playing with 8-finger tapping for decades and/or tuning in fifths. This seems like a "solution without a problem" kinda thing. I find it very pretentious.
@@ErebosGR I know exactly what you mean and that is actually exactly why I mentioned these two genres. They (and their fans) eat this kind of shit up. And I say that respectfully as one of them.
@@pr0r0gu3 I don't agree with that generalization. I feel that those genres are very pragmatic in how they incorporate musical elements/instruments from other music styles. The "touch guitar" would have to provide something unique and distinctive, musically, to justify its adoption.
Already digging the progress and the sounds you're making. That U8's neck was cut from the same wood as mine was, they are sister instruments. What a significant chunk of Plumwood.
This is so helpful for any instrumentalist, is really hard to not get into bad habits but it is worse to correct them, and those advices of finding the balance between musicality and technique is what everybody should think of Thank you Shawn and my best wishes for you to continue growing in this new world
attempt to make music, then, when you have an idea you can't execute, work on technique until you can execute that idea. this ensures you're always motivated by passion, and not a sense of obligation. people have limited motivation for obligation, but essentially limitless motivation for passion.
I think this is both a good and bad idea and would like to offer an addition. When you write on the instrument you are going to play with, you tend to underestimate how much of what you are going to come up with is channeled by the technique that is already there - you tend to gravitate to things you are comfortable with playing. So if you come up with the ideas on your instrument, you will come to ideas that require you to push your techniques less frequently than (and that's my addition) if you write with a notation software first and then try to execute what you have come up with. Or take music written for another instrument and try to play it on your instrument of choice. Or sing a part you then try to execute.
@@simongunkel7457 i should also add that i specifically have an office job so that i'm never creatively constrained to play things that other people want to buy or hear. when music is a job, some obligation--based motivation is inevitable. also weird thing: using a tracker to compose "feels" closer to fretted stringed instruments than piano roll or western music notation because it naturally guides you to think of music in semitones as the base unit rather than degrees of your chosen scale.
I agree with what you're saying but it is SO important to have focus on general technique just so you don't hurt yourself. I know great guitar players who have had to stop playing altogether because problems with their technique has given them serious wrist and muscle injuries. I've been playing bass for years and years mostly self taught and I've had to spend a while ironing out potentially dangerous technique years down the line I didn't even realise was wrong. I think that's what Shawn and his teacher are getting at here with the "bad habits" they're talking about.
Next exercise will be opening the chakras. Great job in surviving the first week of learning new instrument! It's very easy to get sidetracked in the "experimental" jamming amidst the mundane exercises.
5:00 Ha, this was reminding me of practising acoustic the other day and working out how to get rid of the finger-pad release sounds, they often slide a little and make little scraping sounds. Great to focus on, makes a huge difference overall to manage those sort of byproduct sounds.
Been having recurring anxiety dreams about going out and forgetting a mask. Don't even think about it during the day. But I guess it's weighing on my mind. Whole video was like, "Why are they in a room together? Oh yeah, Germany" ಥ﹏ಥ
As a math rock guitarist this sort of stuff is so cool to see! There's way more differences than I expected between touch guitar and just normal two-handed tapping with all of your fingers. Excited to see how this goes!
Me: "Oh neat, Shawn is inhumanly good at the drums so it'll be nice to see him learn a new instrument and see how we all start out as trash at first." Shawn: Proceeds to play The Girl From Ipanema while accompanying himself in week one. This... is going to escalate quickly, isn't it?
This video actually motivated me to work more on my tapping as a guitarist, thanks for reminding me about the possibilities when you have both hands on the fretboard
Thank you for being so open showing your/jamming practicing! its a good reminder to see that even an accomplished musician and composer like yourself had to start somewhere I also really enjoy hearing what you're hearing and how you're trying to figure out the resolutions without knowing the shapes! (I do it on bass a lot haha)
@@JGBDYT It's a lot of things but I'm talking specifically about emo music, a subgenre/offshoot of rock and hardcore punk. Check out the band American Football for an idea of what I'm talking about.
This is super reassuring as an amateur guitarist (common or garden six string variety lol). I learned to move my hands to avoid pull-offs on nylon instruments and to see someone so proficient explaining it at the beginning is awesome. Sometimes it is inevitable you'll get a noise but I'm learning to live with them and only to bother trying to avoid the super dissonant ones to manage your workload. (dissonant being unwanted notes in this case, if you want to build tension sometimes harmony can be a problem 😂)
The clean tone and range of the guitar while you're jamming near the end reminds me of the song "Flavor Bud Living" by Captain Beefheart (don't worry, it's actually listenable).
Honestly this is brilliant. It's incredibly humbling to learn a new instrument and you're killing it! It's a great opportunity for others in their musical journey to see you starting from scratch too. I remember I started learning Trumpet to play with the Year 4 concert band at a school I taught at. My students gained a new perspective of learning an instrument because "even someone with a music degree can be a beginner". Love the channel.
After I read the Ipanema comments and then got to the part where Shawn played it I was like "Hey, that's nice! I like how easy that part of the chord progression actually is on this instru… wait, he's adding the melody, too?! … wow."
Hi Shawn, great video as always! Though you might enjoy this piece by thomas ades: ruclips.net/video/Pak3U_f0H4o/видео.html starting at 1:54, it features a 5/12 pattern in the right hand (with added 2:3 polyrhythm, often starting a triplet or two off the beat) over a straight 3/4 left hand. curious if you might have a different way of notating or conceptualizing it, I'm learning the piece now and at tempo it's hella difficult 😅
With the whole lockdown situation making band practices/gigs a no go, I’ve started writing stuff on bass using two handed tapping to do the melody/bass parts. How does this compare to doing it on a regular bass/guitar?
Shootout to Liquid Tension Experiment. The old guy playing the chapman stick at the beginning of the video is part of that band. The band is 75% Dream Theater (Petrucci, Portnoy and Rudess). They just released a new album this week.
Stanley Jordan is one of the best touch guitarists and jazz composer/musician ever. He never gets mentioned enough. If you haven't heard his albums, or the Concert he did with Chet Atkins, MUST sees. He is the progenitor of jazz touch guitar. Please mention him... he is a father of touch guitar... thanks
eh, I feel it was necessary for me as a non-guitarist. the theory/rhythm/coordination stuff will be easy for me, but my body isn't adapted to playing on strings.
@@ShawnCrowder you definetly have a point there, looks like you're already at a good point judging by your noodling though! really looking forward for the next episode
Question: does that foam at the nut (to mute accidental pull-off to open, i assume) stay on for all levels of play, or is that on there because you're a beginner?
i’d guess it stays on, it’s really common for guitarists using extended range strings to have some foam up there to cut down on sustain or to keep unmuted low strings from ringing out and muddying shit up
While you learn touch guitar, at the same time Jen Majura is busy learning drums (and has recently taken up vlogging). Here's one of those: ruclips.net/video/3c_hsmNdDKU/видео.html (There's just no good place to post something out-of-place/ out--of-turn like this).
A bit of jamming certainly makes for a more entertaining video than a record of diligence in the basics would've. In the more focused week it might be an idea to take the videos of those and figure out what you've done wrong in any piece where this shows up clear enough and basic enough to be worth going back there to fix things (slow, accurate, etc). Also for the creative side, while you're at the start, and now you've released that pent up urge to just get out there and play that thing, maybe next time it grabs you, send it down some other avenue? Play the tabla. Or just attack the drum kit in a completely new way - jam like they jam in Senegal or something. Or sing. Even if you don't sing much, do what you can. Throat sing like the Golden Horde did. And then get nice and calm and in-control, and go back to making sure you're only practicing success. And having said that, I now feel free to agree with everyone that your jams were pretty cool (and give a good idea of the kind of fun such a guitar could become after not too many years down a journey). Thanks for putting yourself out there like this. It's really interesting seeing a musician learning an instrument like this. (A compressed/ accelerated version of the longer path a talented hobbyist would follow, so a story one can follow without getting too bogged in the details - because you have it in you to deal with those quite quickly.)
Don't get it. Unconvinced that the sound is good or unique enough to warrant its own instrument. Stanley Jordan made a go of it, it's already been pioneered. Don't get it.
Check out the full lesson here! ruclips.net/video/tx_U7E30aoM/видео.html
The new Sungazer will be downright wicked
One hand drumming, the other hand tapping 😳
(or both feet drumming, hands tapping)
@@NonsenseTreasure like rob scallon!
I'm 2 minutes into the video and it seems like a handshaking tutorial
I left at that point so for me it is
It escalates really quickly after that. It gets fucking weird my dude
watched after reading this, did not expect your comment to be literal wth
I'm 2 minutes into the video and it seems like a JOI
@@Ultima2876 Has anyone called the Police about this "teacher"?
HEHEHE!
I give it two years before this instrument is all over the math rock and progressive metal scene.
it kinda reminds me of yvette young's playstyle
@@mlim9858 Yeah I'm sure if Yvette got her hands on one there'd be a mad dash for orders.
Nah, I doubt it.
Guitarists have been playing with 8-finger tapping for decades and/or tuning in fifths.
This seems like a "solution without a problem" kinda thing.
I find it very pretentious.
@@ErebosGR I know exactly what you mean and that is actually exactly why I mentioned these two genres. They (and their fans) eat this kind of shit up. And I say that respectfully as one of them.
@@pr0r0gu3 I don't agree with that generalization. I feel that those genres are very pragmatic in how they incorporate musical elements/instruments from other music styles. The "touch guitar" would have to provide something unique and distinctive, musically, to justify its adoption.
Already digging the progress and the sounds you're making. That U8's neck was cut from the same wood as mine was, they are sister instruments. What a significant chunk of Plumwood.
Priori Incantatem
It is so cool to see such an accomplished musician being a beginner again
Why did this video start having so much sexual tension like 2 minutes in.
I mean, Marcus and Sean are both rather handsome guys.
My brain went full innuendo mode after he called the exercise 'the wanker' lol :')
YEAAHHH OMGGG I thought I was the only one who felt it lol
Homie was trying to get that over with
The handshakes were uncomfortable.
This is so helpful for any instrumentalist, is really hard to not get into bad habits but it is worse to correct them, and those advices of finding the balance between musicality and technique is what everybody should think of
Thank you Shawn and my best wishes for you to continue growing in this new world
this is when sungazer turns into king crimson
15:38 Looks like Adam will have some competition for those Sungazer bass note streams eh?
attempt to make music, then, when you have an idea you can't execute, work on technique until you can execute that idea. this ensures you're always motivated by passion, and not a sense of obligation. people have limited motivation for obligation, but essentially limitless motivation for passion.
this also trims down your technique to only the things that you, personally, are going to use.
I think this is both a good and bad idea and would like to offer an addition. When you write on the instrument you are going to play with, you tend to underestimate how much of what you are going to come up with is channeled by the technique that is already there - you tend to gravitate to things you are comfortable with playing. So if you come up with the ideas on your instrument, you will come to ideas that require you to push your techniques less frequently than (and that's my addition) if you write with a notation software first and then try to execute what you have come up with. Or take music written for another instrument and try to play it on your instrument of choice. Or sing a part you then try to execute.
@@simongunkel7457 i should also add that i specifically have an office job so that i'm never creatively constrained to play things that other people want to buy or hear. when music is a job, some obligation--based motivation is inevitable.
also weird thing: using a tracker to compose "feels" closer to fretted stringed instruments than piano roll or western music notation because it naturally guides you to think of music in semitones as the base unit rather than degrees of your chosen scale.
I agree with what you're saying but it is SO important to have focus on general technique just so you don't hurt yourself. I know great guitar players who have had to stop playing altogether because problems with their technique has given them serious wrist and muscle injuries. I've been playing bass for years and years mostly self taught and I've had to spend a while ironing out potentially dangerous technique years down the line I didn't even realise was wrong. I think that's what Shawn and his teacher are getting at here with the "bad habits" they're talking about.
Next exercise will be opening the chakras. Great job in surviving the first week of learning new instrument! It's very easy to get sidetracked in the "experimental" jamming amidst the mundane exercises.
I know you said its more nuanced than tapping, but my dude it looks and smells and sounds like tapping.
5:00 Ha, this was reminding me of practising acoustic the other day and working out how to get rid of the finger-pad release sounds, they often slide a little and make little scraping sounds. Great to focus on, makes a huge difference overall to manage those sort of byproduct sounds.
15:00 perfect note for a staccato-ed Meshuggah's Bleed!
More seriously: congrats dude! Especially regarding the few Ipanema notes!
Anyone else cringed a little when they shook hands?
... I forgot what shaking hands felt like :(
Not me. I've been socially distancing since I was 12. I was born for this era, lol
Been having recurring anxiety dreams about going out and forgetting a mask.
Don't even think about it during the day. But I guess it's weighing on my mind.
Whole video was like, "Why are they in a room together? Oh yeah, Germany" ಥ﹏ಥ
pretty cool how you confronted Techniques vs music. Whatever instrument you are practicing that's certainly a topic which will be always be present.
My jaw dropped at the Girl from Ipanema! that's insane progress for like one week!!
Hi.
@@henryhall7808 Hi again !
As a math rock guitarist this sort of stuff is so cool to see! There's way more differences than I expected between touch guitar and just normal two-handed tapping with all of your fingers. Excited to see how this goes!
Why are you this talented man?
He could be anything he wants, and goes and chooses to be this talented man.
Me: "Oh neat, Shawn is inhumanly good at the drums so it'll be nice to see him learn a new instrument and see how we all start out as trash at first."
Shawn: Proceeds to play The Girl From Ipanema while accompanying himself in week one.
This... is going to escalate quickly, isn't it?
it's super depressing
This video actually motivated me to work more on my tapping as a guitarist, thanks for reminding me about the possibilities when you have both hands on the fretboard
Thank you for being so open showing your/jamming practicing! its a good reminder to see that even an accomplished musician and composer like yourself had to start somewhere
I also really enjoy hearing what you're hearing and how you're trying to figure out the resolutions without knowing the shapes! (I do it on bass a lot haha)
Amazing. Will follow the rest of the journey closely.
I'm already getting math rock/emo inspiration from some of the playing at 14:25
Emo ? What's that
@@JGBDYT It's a lot of things but I'm talking specifically about emo music, a subgenre/offshoot of rock and hardcore punk. Check out the band American Football for an idea of what I'm talking about.
Just got a 12 string warr guitar, so I'm pretty glad that you just uploaded this great lesson!
you guys are so awesome for giving out all this information for free!
This is super reassuring as an amateur guitarist (common or garden six string variety lol). I learned to move my hands to avoid pull-offs on nylon instruments and to see someone so proficient explaining it at the beginning is awesome.
Sometimes it is inevitable you'll get a noise but I'm learning to live with them and only to bother trying to avoid the super dissonant ones to manage your workload. (dissonant being unwanted notes in this case, if you want to build tension sometimes harmony can be a problem 😂)
fifth tuning must make seamless key changes way easier! loving this, it's gonna be cool to see more!
Good luck learning man, rooting for ya
Keep it up mateL it gets so fun. I play NS Stick and the 10 string Stick. Cheers tappy!
HOLY SHIT. WE ARE THE SAME PERSON!!! I like your cut, g
Bruuh
Sounding great, Shawn! So cool that you are on the way to being able to play a bossa standard already!
I saw Markus perform with Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto back in 2014 (ish?), And WOW! What a beast if a player! And very disciplined
The clean tone and range of the guitar while you're jamming near the end reminds me of the song "Flavor Bud Living" by Captain Beefheart (don't worry, it's actually listenable).
Love Markus he's like a brother to me.. and i hope i get a touch guitar soon. once i can afford it
Oooh, Markus is awesome, check him out with Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto in Stick Men.
Honestly this is brilliant. It's incredibly humbling to learn a new instrument and you're killing it! It's a great opportunity for others in their musical journey to see you starting from scratch too.
I remember I started learning Trumpet to play with the Year 4 concert band at a school I taught at. My students gained a new perspective of learning an instrument because "even someone with a music degree can be a beginner". Love the channel.
Gosh boi, playin Girl from Ipanema the first week of Touch Guitar. Good work man
That was on the first day, actually! Shawn is the man!
After I read the Ipanema comments and then got to the part where Shawn played it I was like "Hey, that's nice! I like how easy that part of the chord progression actually is on this instru… wait, he's adding the melody, too?! … wow."
Great! Kinda slow but most instrument start that way, I remember when i started violin, almost a year with simple melodies and exercises. Keep it up!
Girl from ipanema made me laugh! Have you played any string instruments before, because you've made so much progress already! Keep it up!
Hi Shawn, great video as always!
Though you might enjoy this piece by thomas ades: ruclips.net/video/Pak3U_f0H4o/видео.html starting at 1:54, it features a 5/12 pattern in the right hand (with added 2:3 polyrhythm, often starting a triplet or two off the beat) over a straight 3/4 left hand. curious if you might have a different way of notating or conceptualizing it, I'm learning the piece now and at tempo it's hella difficult 😅
With the whole lockdown situation making band practices/gigs a no go, I’ve started writing stuff on bass using two handed tapping to do the melody/bass parts.
How does this compare to doing it on a regular bass/guitar?
Touch instruments must be much popular for today than they are
Really interesting ! Thanks :D
If I have 2 min pre show I'll warm up like this. Never needed a touch guitar for this.
So when can we expect a combo drum and touch guitar piece? Feed on the drums, hands on the guitar? :P
we need more info on this journey!
Shootout to Liquid Tension Experiment. The old guy playing the chapman stick at the beginning of the video is part of that band. The band is 75% Dream Theater (Petrucci, Portnoy and Rudess). They just released a new album this week.
Tony Levin is an absolute BEAST. Never heard of this but given the personell i'll definitely check em out.
Imagine calling Tony Levin the old guy
Now it's 50% dream theater
Do you have experience with a regular guitar, Shawn?
Very nice video, thanks for sharing your progress! Interesting and inspiring!
Stanley Jordan is one of the best touch guitarists and jazz composer/musician ever. He never gets mentioned enough. If you haven't heard his albums, or the Concert he did with Chet Atkins, MUST sees. He is the progenitor of jazz touch guitar. Please mention him... he is a father of touch guitar... thanks
so basically fingertapping an alternate tuned tuned 8 string guitar. got it.
with a super compressed tone
Great!! 1 question please: where do you buy the strings?
awesome. Right down my alley. Would this work on a harley benton 8 or 7string fanfret?
After so many years with Warr guitar Trey Gunn has some issues with his wrist, does Marcus technique is better in that regard?
I skim watched the full video earlier this week
But can it play both guitar parts from Never Meant?
How is this not just two handed tapping on an 8 string???
Anyone know the song at 0:23?
Genesis by Devin Townsend
ruclips.net/video/qtgv89oLCOU/видео.html
Thanks alot! Can’t wait to get back to live shows like this beauty ☺️
"So how do you warm up before a show?
"Oh, 5 minute wanker exercise"
I always wondered where Daughter got their name from
13:53 dude that low thumping noise scared me lol
What kind of pedal are you using to get those ambient sounds?
Midwest emo vibes from those jams.
i really feel like the teacher took a very slow approach for the first lesson considering you're a trained musician
eh, I feel it was necessary for me as a non-guitarist. the theory/rhythm/coordination stuff will be easy for me, but my body isn't adapted to playing on strings.
@@ShawnCrowder you definetly have a point there, looks like you're already at a good point judging by your noodling though! really looking forward for the next episode
Take a look at Dave Bunker’s touch guitar. They have unique circuitry.
So are you saying that you like Feliz Martin?
2:30 I need to make this joke to everyone I know, where do I buy this instrument
the saturated stuff gave me the stank face ahah
Question: does that foam at the nut (to mute accidental pull-off to open, i assume) stay on for all levels of play, or is that on there because you're a beginner?
i’d guess it stays on, it’s really common for guitarists using extended range strings to have some foam up there to cut down on sustain or to keep unmuted low strings from ringing out and muddying shit up
Yeah, it stays. Helps remove some of the potential noise when removing fingers from the strings.
@@ShawnCrowder fascinating. does that make it harder to tune?
Kind of reminds me of a guitar meets the Harpejji
14:26 reminds me of midwest emo mathrock riff
The way he originally called exercise one "The Wanker," and then "The Son" unsettles me lol
GET TOSIN ABASI ONE OF THESE!!!
0:23 Song?
Song at 0:22 ?
Does someone have the link for this Devin Townsend video, or at least the name of the song?
The song is genesis, i suspect that the video is either on youtube or it's exclusive from his most recent live album
nvm found the video ruclips.net/video/qtgv89oLCOU/видео.html
@@Nameless_Wretch Thank you very much!
While you learn touch guitar, at the same time Jen Majura is busy learning drums (and has recently taken up vlogging). Here's one of those: ruclips.net/video/3c_hsmNdDKU/видео.html
(There's just no good place to post something out-of-place/ out--of-turn like this).
A bit of jamming certainly makes for a more entertaining video than a record of diligence in the basics would've.
In the more focused week it might be an idea to take the videos of those and figure out what you've done wrong in any piece where this shows up clear enough and basic enough to be worth going back there to fix things (slow, accurate, etc).
Also for the creative side, while you're at the start, and now you've released that pent up urge to just get out there and play that thing, maybe next time it grabs you, send it down some other avenue? Play the tabla. Or just attack the drum kit in a completely new way - jam like they jam in Senegal or something. Or sing. Even if you don't sing much, do what you can. Throat sing like the Golden Horde did. And then get nice and calm and in-control, and go back to making sure you're only practicing success.
And having said that, I now feel free to agree with everyone that your jams were pretty cool (and give a good idea of the kind of fun such a guitar could become after not too many years down a journey). Thanks for putting yourself out there like this. It's really interesting seeing a musician learning an instrument like this. (A compressed/ accelerated version of the longer path a talented hobbyist would follow, so a story one can follow without getting too bogged in the details - because you have it in you to deal with those quite quickly.)
It’s strange seeing Shawn as beginner
it won't last long
This guy teaches like he's inducting Shawn into a cult
0:23 song name?
found it ruclips.net/video/qtgv89oLCOU/видео.html
9:34 same
The begginning of this lesson made me deeply uncomfortable...
ruclips.net/video/5-N_0UgSMiU/видео.html
So you play it tap
Don't get it. Unconvinced that the sound is good or unique enough to warrant its own instrument. Stanley Jordan made a go of it, it's already been pioneered. Don't get it.
ipanemaaaa
Need chapman stick
14:25 what's my age again
3:50 That is literally just tapping.
Stanley Jordan
Vaia fumada que leva o mestre meu
tapping.... there is no "touch vs tap", it's just tap..
but... but thats just two hand tapping on 8 string with dampher on...
I thought he meant he was learning how to "touch guitar" to make the good noise.
D A Y U M
That was the best clip of Devin to include. Tutu metal is purifying
So basically it’s like tapping on an 8 string that has a weird tuning
It sounds like a Clavinet